Eric Musselman has his first signature win in his debut season as head coach at USC, as the Trojans upset No. 13 Illinois 82-72 in Champaign.
This marks USC basketball’s first win over a ranked opponent since 2010, and it came at the expense of a Brad Underwood team missing its leading scorer, freshman sensation Kasparas Jakucionis, for the second straight game because of a forearm injury. Musselman, who was hired by the Trojans after five seasons at Arkansas, got 31 points from junior guard and Xavier transfer Desmond Claude.
The Trojans (10-6) shot 54.2 percent from the floor and scored 1.139 points per possession against an Illinois team (12-4) that came in seventh nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency.
Illinois got a wakeup call after going on a dominant run
The Fighting Illini have been one of the pleasant surprises of the college basketball season’s opening months, considering they had to replace all five starters from last year’s Elite Eight team, and the absence of Jakucionis didn’t stop them from beating Penn State by 39 this week. That came six days after a 32-point win at Oregon. Saturday’s game showed that Jakucionis’ 16.4 points, 5.4 assists and 5.6 rebounds a game will be needed for bigger tests ahead, such as next weekend at Michigan State, and it shouldn’t be long before he’s back, considering he was a game-time decision.
Also, with or without him, Illinois needs to focus on not settling too much from outside — it was 7 for 32 from 3 in this game and 16 for 30 from 2 — and be tougher inside. The No. 1 rebounding team in the country lost that battle to the Trojans.
Could USC use this win as a slingshot toward NCAA contention?
USC came into the game at No. 95 in the NET rankings, with an 0-4 record in Quad 1 games. This win will carry plenty of value when the NCAA selection committee examines profiles in March, but the Trojans still have tons of work to do to get theirs any consideration. There is significant opportunity ahead, with home games against Wisconsin, UCLA and Michigan State, plus a trip to Nebraska in the next three weeks.
Claude was the star Saturday, but senior big man Rashaun Agee was just as important. He came in playing 11.5 minutes and scoring 4.4 points per game but bullied Illinois with 13 points and eight rebounds in 30 minutes, leading the team with a plus/minus of plus-16 and making it so that Underwood couldn’t play second-leading scorer Tomislav Ivisic. The Trojans need that version of Agee down the stretch.
(Photo: Ron Johnson / Imagn Images)
